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The Friday Five for 17 April 2026

These questions were written by

ideealisme.

1. What did you do on Monday?

2. What did you do on Tuesday?

3. What did you do on Wednesday?

4. What did you do on Thursday?

5. What are you going to do today?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

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Star Wars Fic and Meta - From All The Spaces Between Times - Chapter 78

Title: From All The Spaces Between Times
Chapter: Chapter 78 — When the Game is Over, the Picture Will Be Whole
Author:

elrhiarhodan /

elrhiarhodan
Fandom: Star Wars, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars — Obi Wan Kenobi (TV), Star Wars — Jedi Apprentice Books
Characters Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Shmi Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, The Force as a Sentient Character, Watto, Quinlan Vos, Padmé Amidala, Sabé, Darth Maul, Yoda, Mace Windu, Adi Gallia, Quinlan Vos, Professor Huyang, The Force, Plo Koon, Vokara Che, Siri Tachi, Aayla Secura, Bant Eerin, Bruck Chun, Xanatos du Crion, Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, Hego Damask II | Darth Plagueis, Komari Vosa, Bail Prestor Organa, Breha Organa, Bail Antilles Prestor, Rael Averross, Nim Piana, Ahsoka Tano, Sifo-Dyas, Reva Sevander, Lene Kostana (mentioned), Savage Opress, Pong Krell, The Traitor, Original Characters, Other Characters To Be Added
Pairings: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Shmi Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Qui-Gon Jinn, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon Jinn (yes, we’re arrived). Bail Prestor Organa/Breha Organa
Word Count: ~ 7400 this chapter
Spoilers: None
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: None

Summary: Obi-Wan Kenobi has never known it, but he has always been the Force’s Champion, destined to suffer infinite sadness in defense of the Light. On his last turn on the wheel, responsibility for The Chosen One, the false child of prophecy, had been thrust upon him with no warning, and Darkness held the upper hand.

But this time, the Force has marshaled its power and will protect its Champion until the time is right, no matter how long Obi-Wan has to wait and how much he has to suffer.

Or,

Obi-Wan is reborn as a twelve-year old.

He wakes up on a slavers’ ship, with all of his prior life’s memories intact, and he’s bound for Tatooine with a Force-inhibitor collar around his neck, a bomb implanted in his spine, and no way of knowing what state of the Galaxy is in.

Just another day in the life of the Force’s Champion.

Chapter Summary: The Traitor’s scheme unravels, but he continues to sow chaos in the Temple. Meanwhile, Yoda’s lineage — not quite the disaster it had been in the other timeline — begins its journey back home.

With interesting consequences.

From All The Spaces Between Times: Chapter 78 — When the Game is Over the Picture Will Be Whole (On AO3)

( Meta — When the Game is Over the Picture Will Be Whole )

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Fic I wrote for MCYT Battleship

I think the exam this morning went well, that is a big relief (though I won't find out for sure for six weeks or so.) Finally time to catch up on fandom things!

I participated in

mcytbattleship this year - the first one, technically, since last year was AUFest in battleship format - and I had a lot of fun. I was on team Tide and we won!! It was extremely close, too, team Bolt was missing one board tag at the last check.
I came into the event planning to write at least one fic, and I ended up writing six, which I'm very happy with, and two of those (the last two in this list) especially. All six stories were for Hermitcraft/Life series, and all featured ZombieCleo - yes I have a clear favorite. (I started fics without them too but those didn't come together.)

The Watcher at the End of His Games, Hermitcraft/Life series
1k, Cleo&Etho&Grian, Watcher!Grian
Summary: After the last game ended badly, Grian invites Cleo and Etho to one more world.
Notes: Roomies <3 This needed more editing to come together the way I wanted it too but not bad I think.

Waxen Care, Hermitcraft
0.7k, Cleo & Joe, came back wrong, platonic wax play
Summary: Cleo's body was changed, again. Joe helps.
Notes: I think several tags I was aiming for a very obvious, and I do like Joe taking care of Cleo.

Find the Missing, Life series
1.2k, Cleo/Etho, superhero AU
Summary: The downside of having a famous superhero ex is that you might get kidnapped to get to him. The upside is that he will come and rescue you, and you might even find out how much you still care about each other.
Notes: This is an urban fantasy AU so technically I could have tagged this Hermitcraft but idk Life Series seemed to fit this version of them better. Not written in second person btw, for some reason I put the summary like that.

Parsec High Club, Hermitcraft
0.6k, Cleo/Etho/OFC, brainship AU
Summary: Due to the limitations of being a spaceship, Cleo could sometimes use some assistance in properly taking care of their captain.
Notes: I just had to write something to hit "AU - Brainship" ^^ Sidenote, this one and the next had five tags from the rare tags list which gives me a golden ticket for next year, need to figure out what to use it for...

/keep @server hermit 2, Hermitcraft RPF
1.1k, Cleo & Grian, IRL Hermits on Hermitcraft isekai
Summary: Being on Hermitcraft is different when the Server doesn't let you leave.
Notes: My first actual MCYT RPf fic, and I have wanted to see more Hermits-on-Hermitcraft for a while. The recipient called it "kinda horrifying, actually. But also lovely." which is pretty much what I wanted :)
I really liked my idea to use a made-up gamerule for the title; I don't know anything about gamerules but I got some feedback that made me think it's maybe not immediately clear but makes sense in context.

The Swarming of Hermits, Hermitcraft
2.8k, Cleo/Everyone (Cleo/Grian, Cleo/Etho, Cleo/Cub), e-rated xeno harem with lots of breeding kink
Summary: The Time of Swarming has begun, and Hermits from all over the place have gathered together.
Cleo breeds her swarm.
Notes: This year there was a battleship tag "grasshopper-style gregarization," and I found a prompt for it that also included xeno, oviposition, and breeding kink, and somehow I came up with this. Definitely the kinkiest fic I have ever posted! Feels a bit awkward to reread but I'm also proud of it. And I have many thoughts about the worldbuilding that I will hopefully write down at one point.

(no subject)

Watch on YouTube

I don't know how the movie will be, but that was an amazing trailer.

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Nekropolis, by Maureen McHugh

In a future Morocco, a young woman named Hariba with no prospects has herself jessed, a process which renders her loyal to whoever buys her, and sells herself as an indentured servant to a wealthy household. There she meets Akhmim, a harni - a genetically engineered human designed to be a perfect lover or companion. Hariba falls in love with him and runs away with him, but because she's jessed, she becomes extremely sick due to defying her loyalty implant.

Up until this point, the book had a compelling atmosphere a bit reminiscent of The Handmaid's Tale in that it explored the daily life of people living with very little agency in the home of someone who owns them. But once Hariba gets sick, she becomes completely sidelined from the story and basically lies in bed suffering for the entire middle part of the book, while the POV switches from Hariba and Akhmim to first her mother, then her friend - neither of whom are very interesting.

( Read more... )

This is a well-written book with interesting issues that sags a lot in the middle portion when Hariba basically drops out of the story, and ends in a note of depression and gloom.

Though I didn't love this book, I'm sorry that McHugh doesn't seem to be writing novels anymore as I did quite like China Mountain Zhang and Mission Child.

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Erin Reads: Pet Shop of Horrors, Collector’s Edition (volume 3, chapters 13-15)

Taxes are done for the year, time to reward myself with some PetShopOfHorrorsposting. My readalong has reached the start of Volume 3 in the Seven Seas Collector’s Edition, which is the start of volume 4 in the original Tokyopop release.

I’m posting the individual reactions on Mastodon and Bluesky, then rounding them up in the blog. Previous roundups in my PSOH fandom tag. You can pick up the books with my affiliate links here.

One thing before I start: There’s an AO3 tag for a PSOH character called “Madam C“. She only shows up in one fic, in this chapter. Haven’t seen her in my reread yet. Anybody know what part of canon she’s from?

(There’s a “Madame” in the Sofu D spinoff manga, but she doesn’t get an initial. And this fic has “Madam C” interacting with Leon, so, probably not the 19th-century Paris woman.)

D with red carnations, cover art of volume 4

( As you can see, there are no humans here. )

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Bialya With Extra Cheese: JLQ #5-8 (JLI 83)

The Global Guardians were only the third most popular “GG” in the JLI era, after Guy Gardner and General Glory. But they merited at least a little attention after all their buildup. Assistant editor Kevin Dooley slid into the writing role for these four stories with Andy Smith on pencils, though it’s hard to believe the same people wrote and drew all four of them. Even by JLI standards, they’re quite varied in tone.

( Almost as much as Sumaan Harjavti’s skin and hair are from appearance to appearance. )

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admin: poll: theme

Round 186 Theme Poll

Poll #34481 round 186 theme poll

This poll is closed.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: Just the Poll Creator, participants: 99

Pick the next theme of fancake:

Collaborations & Remixes
25 (25.3%)

Journey/Travel
45 (45.5%)

Whump
29 (29.3%)

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Community Recs Post!

Every Thursday, we have a community post, just like this one, where you can drop a rec or five in the comments.

This works great if you only have one rec and don't want to make a whole post for it, or if you don't have a DW account, or if you're shy. ;)

(But don't forget: you can deffo make posts of your own seven days a week. ;D!)

So what cool fics/fanart/fanvids/other kinds of fanworks/fancrafts/podfics have we discovered this week? Drop it in the comments below. Anon comment is enabled.

BTW, AI fanworks are not eligible for reccing at recthething. If you aware that a fanwork is AI-generated, please do not rec it here.

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: House in the woods at the edge of town
Current Music: Star Wars: The Old Republic

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Shamrock and Thistle Pipe Band at NYC Tartan Day Parade

Watch on YouTube

Current Mood: busy

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garden

Planter and seeds acquired!

Our planter is here! Getting it wasn't actually a saga, but it felt a bit like one. ( TL;DR: delivery service annoyance )

We also both took yesterday off (and I'm off the rest of the week, but got up at my usual workday time today in hopes of getting a fair amount of manga work done), and ventured out to buy veg seeds for the planter. (We also still need to get soil/fertilizer/etc., but want to read up on it more first. I think I might order a hard copy of The Vegetable Gardener's Bible, which I got on sale in ebook recently and like so far.)

Yesterday's important lesson: when noting down which seed varieties we like the looks of, include the source, because our local store, at least, has separate displays for each originating company, and knowing that would make it much easier to check for the various varieties. Anyway, here's what we wound up with (descriptions are in my last post):

Basil: Devotion.

Cabbage: Early Golden Acre (green) and Serpentine F1 (savoy).

Spinach: Bloomsdale and Renegade.

Lettuce: Brighton (Butterhead), Black Seeded Simpson (green leaf), Red Salad Bowl (red leaf), Grand Rapids (green leaf), Freckles (romaine), and Drunken Woman.

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ice hockey

(social) media appearances

Post-game interview on Facebook for the game against Invicta on Sunday (we lost 10-1). Favourite comment from a friend: "you both pulled such funny faces when the other one was speaking".

My feedback on the Hull camp shared (with permission) on their Facebook page: "I've enjoyed all the camps so far and I think they're good value for money. I think they're helping me improve as a player, and I've definitely seen other players level up in skill and confidence after attending. I'm very much looking forward to three whole days in July. I also really value the friendships I've been building with players from other teams, who I met because of these camps, and the mutual support we've been able to give each other over this past season."

Upcoming: BUIHA will live stream Nationals this weekend on YouTube, my games that will definitely be on it are:

Sat 15:15 Cambridge Huskies v Leeds Gryphons B
Sat 18:18 Cambridge Huskies v Nottingham Mavericks C
Sun 14:20 Birmingham Lions B v Cambridge Huskies
Sun 19:25 Oxford Women's Blues v Cambridge Huskies

(There's one more group-stage game that will be played on the other ice pad and not streamed, and then depending on how we do in group, we'll be assigned to the semi finals for either Bronze, Silver or Gold finals so we'll have up to two more games on Sunday.)

Episode 2766: Smoke, on the Daughter

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2766.html

Episode 2766: Smoke, on the Daughter

Times change. Things that we think are normal today weren't normal years, decades, centuries ago. Things that were normal back then aren't normal now.

Take a simple lifestyle change, or something that would be considered unusual today, and make it an everyday feature of your campaign world. It can add to the otherworldliness of the setting, serving as a constant reminder that isn't just the world your players are used to with monsters.

aurilee writes:

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

Ooooh. Hm. Hmmmm. I'm not quite sure what to think of this, and I'm not even directly affected by the revelation.

I think that Finn/Annie might be taking a bit of a back seat or spending some time off screen now. Possibly Poe/Jim as well. Kind of like how Annie and Jim had that argument where they needed to step out in Episode III for a bit, or where Corey was distracted with online arguments and then ran out in Episode VII following the website hack. Having a possibly life-changing realization and working through that is definitely going to take priority over playing a role-playing game.

Transcript

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2766.html

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Storm: Earth's Mightiest Mutant #3

I need you all to understand how batshit crazy the ongoing Storm comic is.

( Read more... )

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Small fandom pleasures

I had a need for fluff and so I wrote me some (plus banter and a smidgeon of angst and sex) from my nebulous Babylon 5 post-canon fixit future: A Nice Little House on Narn.

----

Today I discovered the existence of Murderbot Maladies, basically a whump / h/c event for May, but the list of prompts is AMAZING and I am going to reproduce it under the cut. As someone who has participated in h/c events basically since they have existed on LJ and similar, I can only say that this is perhaps the best prompt list I've seen, mixing as it does a number of serious h/c staples with such glorious inventions as "harpooned", "inhaled a drone", and "accidentally called Mensah 'Mom'".

( The prompt list )

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reading meme

Wednesday Reading Meme for April 15, 2026

What I’ve Read
The Wimsey Papers by Dorothy L. Sayers – A great look at Sayers’s wartime thoughts in 1935. It’s a loose collection of “letters” between Wimsey relatives that give the impression being Sayers’s soapbox. It’s honestly fairly touching but I’m biased.

Fire on the Mountain by Terry Bisson – Fascinating alternate history novel, told in several timelines. The older timeline is an alternate history of John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry, where it actually went off as planned with Harriet Tubman’s help. The younger timeline is about the survivors of a dead astronaut coping with the new Mars mission. It’s great and weird and hopeful and antiracist in a wrathful and constructive way.

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata – Mixed bag. The first section is from the perspective of an abused and neglected child with a single friend – she’s so alienated from humanity she grows to actually believe she’s an alien. It depicts the abuse and violence with the character disassociating thru it all in a very convincing and harrowing way. She thinks of herself and society as The Factory – they make babies and enforce that role on everyone around them – she’ll grow up into the role eventually. The second half of the book didn’t work for me so well – we meet up with the same character in a much calmer time of her life, but the forces of The Factory are more distant until they are radically not. The second half of the book feels ... like a parody of alienation? She’s not feeling her own emotions anymore and so the more shocking actions of the later book didn’t land as closely. It’s an interesting attempt, but I think that Tender is the Flesh did the “cannibalism as dehumanization” thread more justice.

Sunshine by Robin McKinley – Re-Read. A strange and inconsistent creature – McKinley’s one urban fantasy experiment did not actually land the logistics and plot of an urban fantasy, but the vibes are dreamy and weird and I love that.

What I’m Reading
Fabric of Civilization – no movement

Chalice by Robin McKinley – Sunshine made me crave more.

What I’ll Read Next
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (eventually)
Animorphs – I enjoyed these books and recently tumblr has tempted me into finishing the series.

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: House in the woods at the edge of town
Current Music: Sims 4

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Sam Heughan of 'Outlander' at the NYC Tartan Day Parade 2

Watch on YouTube

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Pillowfest Ends

1) My partner injured yet another finger playing baseball last weekend and had to go to the emergency room. Luckily it was not broken, just dislocated. Since then we have gotten 3 phone calls from the hospital group asking for a survey response.

This is particularly irritating because this group has been buying up hospitals, clinics and medical practices in the area, and is currently the only emergency room in town and provider of certain services.

So what is the point of the survey? What choice to we have? How will any response actually do anything to improve care?

2) I've been warming to High Potential, and recently Keith Carradine guest starred. I knew I recognized him as soon as he appeared, but I couldn't place him. Instead I kept wondering why he made me think of Joel Kinnaman in For All Mankind. For sure they could play relatives.

3) I have not been reading any fic for the better part of a year now. Some months back I read about 4 or 5 that had probably been downloaded over a year earlier, but I haven't been doing offline reading for the first time in a very long time. And when it happened before it was because I didn't have access to material, whereas now I have dozens of commercial books and even more fic.

(I say "nothing" though this doesn't count the random drabble or ficlet someone recs.) ( Read more... )

4) The thing that really stood out to me about Amazon announcing they're discontinuing service to 2012 and earlier Kindles was to think that there's not many electronics that are still running after 15 years. ( Read more... )

5) The Pillowfort Anniversary festivities have ended and it was fun. Many (not even all!) of the activities could be summed up with the bingo card. ( Read more... )

I'd love to see someone else take this on in a few years' time.

Poll #34476 Kudos Footer-571

This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10

Want to leave a Kudos?

View Answers

Kudos!
10 (100.0%)

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Superman Unlimited #12: Red Herring Reunion

( Read more, )

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poetry

Poetry: The Hero's Journey, by Tony Hoagland

( The Hero's Journey, by Tony Hoagland )